Academic Advising
St Margaret’s innovative, award-winning Academic Advising Program for students in Years 9 to 12 sees students assigned to an academic advisor who provides them with support and assistance in setting academic goals and tracking their progress through our Learning Analytics Program. Students meet with their academic advisor, either individually or in small groups, twice weekly during timetabled academic advising sessions.
When the girls are not with their advisor, they have a block of time to use appropriately. It provides them with the responsibility and freedom to practise skills of self-monitoring and self-regulation. Academic advising gives students the tools and confidence to personally evaluate their results and take ownership of their own learning and its outcomes. Through the student ownership of school data, the mentoring from a staff member and the increasing conversation between teachers/students and student/parent, we aim to increase the girls’ learning capacities and enable them to gauge their own learning.
One of the many benefits of these one on one or small group sessions is that feedback is individualised and relevant to that student.
When the girls are not with their advisor, they have a block of time to use appropriately. It provides them with the responsibility and freedom to practise skills of self-monitoring and self-regulation.
Academic Advising helps ensure each student is seen and known; but it also helps each student see and understand herself more clearly, too.
Flyers Program
At St Margaret’s, we understand the commitment and dedication it takes to achieve great things. Our signature Flyers Program supports outstanding scholars, athletes and performers to follow their passion, while successfully balancing all other aspects of their education.
Academic Flyers Program (Years 7 to 10)
The Flyers Program for outstanding scholars provides students with opportunities to extend themselves academically and embrace intellectual challenge. The program’s objective is to inspire, encourage and extend students through:
- extension electives in the fields of Science, English and Music
- Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programs
- workshops with experts in various fields, for example writing workshops with published authors.
Students are selected based on the recommendation of Heads of Faculty or one of the Academic Deans in consultation with the Deputy Principal. Selection is based on records of high achievement and demonstrated ability.
Sports and Performance Flyers Program
The Flyers Program for outstanding athletes and performing artists assists students to achieve both their academic and extracurricular goals through personalised learning. The program assists students through:
- independent learning options
- mentoring
- access to specialist seminars and workshops • practice and training opportunities • communication with key staff and coaches • networking with professionals and organisations
- scholarship and grant application assistance
- academic care
- peer to peer meetings.
Each student reports to a Flyers mentor, such as the Head of Performance, Head of Faculty – The Arts, or Director of Sport. Students must be performing at an exceptional level to apply. Potential music participants should be performing at the level of the Queensland Youth Orchestra; athletes must be state or national representatives in the relevant semester; and candidates in other fields will only be accepted if they are performing at comparative eligibility levels to sport and music. For further information and to enquire about entry into the Flyers Program, please contact Ms Karen Gorrie, Deputy Principal, via phone 3862 0771 or email kgorrie@stmargarets.qld.edu.au.
Download the Flyers Program brochure
Supervised Study Sessions
St Margaret’s provides complimentary Supervised Study Sessions for day students, 12 years and over, to complete their homework under the supervision of tutors. Tutors supervise the study/homework sessions in the senior library from Monday to Thursday every week of term (apart from the first and last weeks). The sessions run from 5pm to 7.30pm, with students having the option of purchasing dinner from the boarding house for $12.50 (at approximately 6pm). Parents can feel comfortable knowing that their daughters are completing their homework and assignments under supervision, in a safe environment. For students attending these sessions after an afternoon of sport, transport is available to and from Windsor Park. For those staying on after school to attend the homework sessions, the senior library is open until 5pm prior to the commencement of the study sessions.
St Margaret's Plus
StM+ provides a summary of activities that maps the skills students have learnt outside/alongside the academic program. This platform draws together the activities and the associated skills to create the overview. The purpose of StM+ is to identify and document the essential skills students develop outside the classroom through participating in extracurricular activities. StM+ aims to develop a whole picture of students by promoting engagement and well roundedness to enhance employability outcomes for students as they graduate.
Mentoring Program
St Margaret’s unique Mentoring Program gives Years 11 and 12 students the opportunity to be matched with appropriate mentors from the St Margaret’s alumni community in the field they are aspiring to study or enter into when they graduate. What sets the program apart is its disciplined structure and the fact its highly personalised to each student. The mentees meet with their mentors virtually four times a year, and after each session, students are supported by specialist school staff to reflect on their session and prepare for the next. Mentors are sought out based on the career pathways students are intending to pursue. This program was the recipient of an Innovative Schools Awards in 2022.
Global Exchange Program
St Margaret's Year 10 Global Exchange Program enables our girls to acquire and further develop new skills in problem solving, independent decision-making and social poise; expand their cultural and ethnic awareness; enhance their passion for learning; and become exceptional ambassadors of the program overseas and in the St Margaret’s community. The program promotes the vision of the school in providing unique opportunities for students to participate in global citizenship in the context of school and family life. Successful applicants have the opportunity to study at one of the schools below: